1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to processors and, more particularly to instructions for use with processors.
2. Related Art
In order to support speech and audio processing, signal processing and 2-D and 3-D graphics, processors must be able to support fast graphics operations. However, prior art general purpose processors have provided little or no hardware support for this type of operations. By contrast, special purpose graphics and media processors provide hardware support for specialized operations. As a result, using prior art processors, graphical operations were performed mostly with the aid of a specialized graphics/media processor.
As the demand for graphics/media support in general purpose processors rises, hardware acceleration of these operations becomes more and more important.
As a result, there is a need for a general purpose processor that allows for efficient processing of these operations.